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How much were you paid for who you know?

If this doesn’t make you sick, it should.

Two vendors competing to run a new Ohio Lottery game showered tens of thousands of dollars on a political group benefiting Democratic governors, including Ohio’s Ted Strickland.

Intralot Inc. gave its first donation this year to the Democratic Governors Association on April 11, according to federal filings. The $50,000 check landed the day after final bid documents were opened in Ohio to operate the Ohio Lottery for the next decade.

The Georgia-based company learned from lottery officials on April 25 that it had the apparent successful bid. The company wrote a second $50,000 check on July 7.

The company gave no comparable donations to the Republican Governors Association this year, that group’s records show.

Intralot’s contract is at the center of a lawsuit over whether Ohio followed proper procedure in awarding it. The contract is worth an estimated $170 million over 10 years.

Rhode Island-based GTECH, a longtime operator of the state’s lottery terminals that filed the lawsuit, has given $75,125 to the Democratic governors’ group since January, more than the $50,000 it gave to the Republican Governors Association.

David Leland, a former Ohio Democratic Party chairman who served as finance chairman of Strickland’s 2006 campaign, is employed as a consultant to the Democratic Governors Association, the group’s financial filings show. Leland has been paid $12,000 a month since at least January.

DGA spokesman Brian Namey said the contributions are unrelated to either the Ohio contract or any consulting work Leland has done for the association.

Records show Lottery vendors gave to Democrats [1].

Lottery companies are buying their way into States. And, the former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman is making $144,000 a year to be a consultant- and that money is coming from companies that want to run lotteries.

Suppose the people just wanted decent schools, an equitable funding system for those schools, safe streets, clean air, water and parks, and an infrastructure to go about their business? How much money in ADDITION to our taxes does it take to outbid special interests that are corrupting our government?

Shakespeare had it wrong- we don’t need to kill all the lawyers (although not surprisingly, many lobbyists are lawyers) we need to start killing the lobbyists.

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